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Using Sweeteners When You Are Cooking For Total Health

Luci Lock responds to the major controversy that developed from her video last week.



Luci Lock's video from last week, in which she explains the use of natural sweeteners xylitol and stevia:





 
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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
I'm amazed that a website devoted to eliminating carbs and sugar is airing a video promoting the very substances that Dr. Mercola has condemned, followed by a debate on which poison is best mixed with your flour in order to concoct your favorite sweet treat. Come on people, do you want health and vitality or not? Are you going to live your life a slave to your tastebuds, or are you going to grow up and begin viewing food as a means of gaining the health and vitality needed to engage in the activities that make life meaningful and fulfilling? Let's move beyond our obsession with spending all our time in pursuit of satisfying our glutinous cravings and begin to focus in on issues that further a more meaningful human destiny. The meaning of life isn't about sitting on the couch eating cake, but about eating to fortify ourselves so that we can go out and live a meaningful life.

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
Veggienut - More eloquently than I, you make my point. Often I fail to remember the gradual process I went through in order to escape the self-indulgent, spiritless lifestyle I used to live that led me to the brink of total self destruction. The more I worked to satisfy my cravings, the less satisfying life became - the paradox of our time.

The ultimate goal needs to be stated, though: restoring the function of eating back to its proper place in the process of being an appropriately functioning cosmological being. The idea that one can achieve a healthy, fulfilling existence simply by substituting a few ingredients in the concoctions that only feed and satisfy one's self-serving cravings is unreasonable. Eating shouldn't be unpleasant, but the pleasure should come from the knowledge that what is being consumed is helping to open the door to a life that is so much more satisfying than any temporary pacification of an over-active pancreas.

As you implied, Veggienut (about going "deeper"), the most spiritual act we can conduct in a day's time is to honor the life process that begs to pass through our being by expressing gratitude for the vital food we are about to consume. The key word is "vital" - not dead, inert, or toxic. The Source of existence begs our cooperation and willful participation in this wholesome cycle of life.

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
In what I've learnt and explored with nutrition, allot of the commentary is valid and true.  However as I grow in my own journey of health, ones emotional connection to food is far more powerful then eating a restricted extremist diet.  Some comments are so agressive and judgemental that I wonder how healthy and happy the person really is!  I'm sorry but we are not animals running around the woods eating grass as our sole source of energy.  We are beautiful complex human beings with sentiments and sensory memories.  If a person truely enjoys a slice of a more healthful cake every now and then.....maybe a old family recipe with memories attached to it/ or creating a treasured treat for thier family.  I'm sorry this dose not make them some gluten sitting on a couch all day mistaking the meaning of life for sweet treats.  It's balance of tastes, of senses, of pleasures and of health.  Condeming others cannot be a healthy state of mind!
Let them eat cake!!  Go Rapadura!

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
There have been reports warning that Xylitol can cause a sudden and severe plunge in blood sugar levels,that could cause a hypoglycaemic episode.This is supposedly due to its ability to cause a surge in the outflow of insulin from the pancreas.

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
peenutz,

It was a tough pill to swallow for me to learn that I am what I eat, and that most of what Granny was enticing me with was making me ill - but that's the way it is. We have lived for too many generations eating unnaturally, and we have plenty of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and mental illness to show for it. We've gotten off the path, and we can't allow our emotional attachments to be the excuse for continuing to destroy our lives. If we keep doing the same thing, we will get the same results.

Wholesomely produced meats, vegetables, whole grains, fruits, raw nuts and seeds (eggs? dairy?) can hardly be considered a "restricted extremist diet". If you are truly interested in "grow[ing] in [your] own journey of health" you will find that many of the things we grew up with are now off the table. When we can associate pleasure with the foods that give us physical vitality and mental clarity - and NOT associate pleasure with the foods that satisfy the cravings of our imbalances and diseases - then we'll be getting somewhere. The comments by "Firewalker" elsewhere in this forum raise what could be the key point: we're dealing with addiction to refined carbs and sugar; and just like any addiction, it is a sad day when we realize that we have to let go of our "old friend." Family eating traditions are hard to break, but it's more difficult to watch loved ones suffering and dying from the foods we fed them.

Happiness? I never knew happiness until my body started functioning properly. It is from my unbridled joy for living that I am willing to share the truth of my experience in the hope that someone else can find what I've found. I pray that it is so.

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Posted On Mar 11, 2007
the green packet is not so good. it isnot organic and I live close to the maufacture. the best brand of stevia by far is put out by sunrider. it is organic and 4xsweeter less biter and more consetrated then other brands
the owner is a master herbalist there is no other co. I found that knew really how to make good herbs like what I found with this one

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Posted On Mar 18, 2007
There are times when everyone eats something sweet or bakes these things. all food was meant to enjoy and to do it as healthily as you can is the ultimate goal. I find that my sweet tooth has definitely subsided the longer I go without the processed chemically infested foods. I do not believe we should not be a slave to foods either way, you can deprive yourself from too much also. my diet is radically changed for the better. i have been on natural and organic foods for over a year now and find something new each week to experiment with. I have only good things to say about most of it. I was extremely ill for aprox. 5 years and within a week of eating naturally i was healed to the amazment of my doctors. I still use evaporated cane juice in my baking and find great sucess from it. I prefer recipes with honey in them but find the raw sugar a great alternative to processed sugar. I do not notice any bad effects myself when using it. My food must taste good as I have been asked to produce a cookbook repeatedly. I also have avoided wheat as much as possible and prefer spelt.

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Posted On Mar 18, 2007
Its up to each individual to investigate what is consumed...and parents must do that for their children.  If I am required to "bake" something for 20 kids, I would much prefer the Stevia to cane sugar.  The alternative can be worse and ususally is.  For those who have taken the journey for a more healthy lifestyle for ones own needs, must consider all avenues.  There are many, many people who know that they are not living well with their choices and choose not to better themselves.  You are not to judge, but encourage and share knowledge.  If I am seeking an alternative, I will consult the Mercola site, and I do expect to find an alternative that I can choose from.  I believe that's what the site is for, to provide information to make healthy choices.

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Posted On Mar 18, 2007
Thank you to Lucy Lock for "keepin' it real".  We all try our best everyday to eat only protein and veggies, but sometimes we need something baked.  Educating people on how to bake with Stevia is not encouraging them to sit on the couch and eat cake. Life calls for  occasions where baked treats are acceptable. 

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Posted On Mar 19, 2007
I'm coming late to this debate, but I am flummoxed by the opinion so many are expressing that our sweet teeth are unnatural and, by the tone in some posts, evil.  My daughter just turned one and her very first food was breast milk, which none can argue against--it is as perfect a food as can be found on this planet, and tastes like cantaloupe  juice.  This of course means it is sweet.  Very sweet.  That makes it yummy--it makes babies want to drink it so that they stay healthy and alive.  I realize that humans do not continue to drink breast milk, but that certainly doesn't mean our taste buds fall off or should be ignored-there are many very healthy raw foods that are, by nature, sweet.  I agree that refined sugar is bad, chemically created and altered sweeteners are horrid, but to say that humans are not meant to eat sweet, well that's just silly. 

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Posted On Mar 24, 2007
Some excerpts from The New Yorker May 22, 2006

Worst of all were the sweeteners found in health-food stores. Stevia, made from a South American shrub of the same name, seemed to combine all the failings of its artificial cousins: slow onset, heavy aftertaste, bitterness, and other disagreeable flavors. (Monsanto, NutraSweet's former owner, considered genetically modifying stevia in order to make it less bitter, but the project was self-defeating: stevia's only real selling point is its natural quality.) Thaumatin, derived from the West African katemfe fruit, was said to be two thousand times as sweet as sugar, but it tasted like nothing at first. Then, slowly, like the opening chords of a Wagner overture, the flavor began to build: deep and faintly dissonant, with echoes of licorice and cough syrup. Chewing-gum makers often add thaumatin to round off flavors and make them last longer, but taken alone, at a high concentration, it was truly awful.

Newborns, they've found, are already fixated on sweetness. If you put some sugar on a latex nipple, an infant will suck it longer and harder than a plain nipple. Give her a drop of sweet water when she's crying and her heartbeat will slow, her face will relax, and her brain activity will fall into a "hedonically positive" pattern. (Hugs and pacifiers have a similar effect, but not as lasting.) According to the biologist Julie Mennella, at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, sugar seems to trigger the release of opiates in the brain, both bringing pleasure and blocking pain.

most taste researchers I talked to won't eat it. "I look at that structure and I have an irrational fear of it," one of them said. (of sucralose)

super-aspartame had some unsettling similarities to cyanide

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Posted On Mar 24, 2007
As a child, my parents wouldn't give me anything processed, they made everything from scratch and sugar was a scarcity in the house.  As I grew up eating sweet things like cherries, peaches, melons, raw peas (fresh from the garden), carrots, (steaming will really bring out the sweetness), yams, etc.,  I found that a candy bar (illicit, of course) would make me shake and feel awful; I could never eat a whole one, and this was when they were half the size they are now.  As an adult, I still find frozen dark cherries to be the sweetest thing on earth and lovely to eat on a hot summer day.  Nature provides plenty of sweet things to satisfy any craving.  And let's not forget that sugar cane is sweet and natural and if you're lucky enough to get it fresh, worth a try as a taste.

We have to be vigilant if we are going to buy things prepackaged.  Corn syrup is in everything (see the film "King Corn") and is there because it is cost effective and it creates an addiction through feelings of well being. 

There is nothing wrong in satisfying your natural need/want for sugar/sweet.  It's when you go overboard and eat it everyday, without measure, that you do damage to your body. I personally crave fats, but I am careful to eat healthy fats, like olive oil, on a daily basis to make my body happy.  And when I satisfy that need, I don't crave it.

Being a slave to your taste buds is more indicative towards your social eating habits.  Eating is meant to be a social event and those that eat in groups, lingering and visiting over a meal, are less likely to be a slave to their taste buds.  I suspect that if one is a slave, it is because the body craves social happiness and instead is given a food pacifier.  Just my opinion.

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Posted On May 09, 2007
How about enjoying healthy foods we really enjoy while we are out creating our meaningful lives? Why does it have to be a black-and-white issue???

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
I'm so glad that all of you have answered.  I'm learning so much.  I'm very new at all of the "Healthy Alternatives" that are out there.  In December of 2006 I started looking at herbal supplements etc.  Stevia, Xylitol and Agave Nectar are some of the items that I have been experimenting with.  I'm looking to get my on plants of Stevia and Agave so I can make sure that the "processing" is without dangerous chemicals. 

Which brings me to add my comment on those that say to give up on alternatives and use sugar.  Don't forget that part of the processing of sugar is with chlorine, it DOES raise the GI levels, and is acid forming in our digestive systems. 

Unprocessed honey is actually one of the best sweetners (if you have to use any), but from what I have read I agree with Luci that it isn't good for diabetics.  Also, do not give honey to infants because they can't digest it properly. 

All in all, whatever you use, use it in moderation especailly if you are trying to get your PH balanced, because all sweetners are acidic.

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Posted On Mar 12, 2007
I agree unprocessed honey is the best.  It is good to look for it a local farmers markets.

Also many people don't realize why they have constant sugar cravings, it may be because of parasites living in the intestines.

Here is an explanation from a chinese-healing site:

Horrible parasites may well be the reason that you cannot lose weight now matter what you try.

You may have found that no matter what type of diet you have tried – whether it was reducing calories, increasing or reducing carbohydrates, fat or protein intakes, exercising till your heart drops out that no matter what you cannot lose the extra pounds and weight.

According to the WHO – the World Health Organization, 3.5 billion – yes that is right billions not millions of people throughout the world suffer from types of parasitic infestations and infections. You would think because you live in the clean modern US of A that you are immune and safe from these problems. Not so. Not all of these people of the 3.5 billion. Since the world population is estimated at 6.5 billion and since 3.5 billions are thought to be infected might it not happen to you?

Parasitic infestations may be severe or mild and can be life threatening, they may be apparently symptom less and go on for years. You may never even know that you are infected by parasites unless it becomes a problems that is apparent – such as poor absorption of critical vitamins leading to anemia or weight loss that is found to be the result of a large tapeworm or worms.

However the direct cause of that weight gain that seems to be permanent and will never go away no matter what you do may well be those so called hidden insidious parasites.

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Posted On Mar 13, 2007
I am learning a ton just reading all of your comments about sweeteners.  I really appreciate the comments that refer to the body's biology.  I believe that when we learn how the body responds to whatever we ingest, we can make choices based on physiology, and not just what feels good or tastes good. 
I will keep reading.  Thank you.  I am new to this website but not new to eating well and exercising well. 

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Posted On Mar 16, 2007
Coconut oil will absolutely REDUCE your sugar cravings.  Just look up on Dr Mercola's web site search, and find all the benefits to using COCONUT OIL!

Coconut Oil is natures perfect food!

Here is Dr Mercola's link: http://www.mercola.com/forms/coconut_oil.htm

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/09/13/coconut-oil-part-three.aspx

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Posted On Mar 17, 2007
1. If one eliminates simple/refined carbohydrates and eats lots of vegetables and fruits, one won't crave sweets. For me it took about 4 weeks on a strict diet to overcome my sweet tooth. After that, I went without any sweetners for about a year before adding occasional (less than once a month) baked goods into my diet. That is "extreme" for many, yes, but my energy levels were consistently high all day every day , I gained muscle and lost fat, and I never felt better. It however took a lot of self-discipline to maintain that diet when surrounded by sweet-tooth and bread-loving family/friends (although they eventually joined me once they saw the tremendous health benefits). Unfortunately, where I live currently it is impossible to avoid all refined carbohydrates and vegetables and fruit are very expensive.

2. If one wants to find sugar substitutes, I had great success with unsweetened applesauce, carrots, and tomato puree. I was able to make things sweet enough that people who didn't know what was in the dish they were eating didn't realize that I didn't use any sugar. Fructose would be another natural alternative, but it is fruit sugar and one's body will react to it as to refined sugar - albeit one can use 1/2 the amount of sugar called for in a recipe.

One last thought... I had to read the product labels carefully and was surprised to find that sugar is an ingredient in most products on the shelf in the USA. It is even in canned vegetables- crazy! Why? Who knows... It's not necessary and is not healthy. And in many bread recipes (even whole grain ones), for example, one is supposed to add sugar - often up to 1 cup! I find that eliminating the sugar creates just as tasty bread.

Anyway, moderation, right? To be obsessed about food can be unhealthy. So, eat vegetables, fruit, good fats (like olive or coconut oil), and avoid eating sugary or refined/processed foods and life will be better than average w/o a big hassle.

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Posted On Mar 18, 2007
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FRUIT 'SUGAR' (SINGULAR) FRUCTOSE!!!

The monosaccharide 'levulose' is the same hydrocarbon weight as artificial or man made from starch 'fructose' (a made up name that did not exist prior to the Japanese lab discovery in 1968 and commercialized in the USA in 1971 from corn). 

ALL fruit sugars (plural), in all fruits, including galactose, glucose, dextrose, sucrose, levulose, maltose, etc, are metabolized in the human Krebs Cycle to blood glucose. 

Additionally, if from whole fruit, you get the added benefit of fibers, anti oxidants, vitamins, plant sterols, minerals and other trace nutrients, in many cases, depending on the fruit (or how it may have been processed or modified or concentrated, etc.).

FRUCTOSE (crystalline, high fructose from corn, iso glucose - the legal identity in the UK & EU for this man made chemically derived fake saccharide, hydrolyzed high fructose inulin) is kilated (converted) to FAT (adipose tissue) and triglycerides (the precursor or building blood in the blood stream trigger LDL or bad cholesterol).   This is why claims of it not raising blood glucose continue & are FALSE.

Fructose is directly medically linked to cardio vascular disease, diabetes, hypoglycemia, cancer and obesity when over consumed, and why we are seeing epidemics of these primarily diseases; because the American food and beverage chain is flooded with man made fructose.

Refined fructose did not exist in the USA food chain in 1970, today, 17 years later, the average consumption per capita is approximately 65 pounds per year.

ANY assertion from any natural health food store, internet purveyor, etc, that are selling you real fruit origin "fructose" is false, deceptive, untrue, and a LIE...because it does not exist, unless from made made chemical refining and enzymatic chemical conversion, from some starch base.

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Posted On Mar 18, 2007
Russ - That is a real eye-opener!  How did we become deceived into thinking it was fruit sugar?  I thought it was.

Duane

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Posted On Mar 19, 2007
Russ,
I really appreciate your analysis of sweeteners.  It's probably here somewhere, but I cannot find your opinion on Xylitol.  Please comment, if you would.
Thank you.

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Posted On May 31, 2007
Russ,

I'm really confused now ... FRUCTOSE is not a real and natural form of sugar?  It is one of the 2 major sources of sugar in Honey which IS natural and GRAS.

<http://www.laboratorytalk.com/news/mea/mea419.html>

It's also listed as being in highest natural concentration in grapes.  I do understand that fructose can result from chemical (not naturally occurring) manipulation of natural sugars, as well as the naturally occurring chemical changes caused by the breakdown of natural sugars by heat and other factors (hydrolysis - and in no way can I view the chemical change created by the introduction of water to a substance as un-natural).

So, what's the deal?

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
Some of you have posted valid questions regarding my comments on stevia; "natural"?, "process for manufacture"?,  "toxic"?, "baking?", bulked with other products and therefore NOT calorie free", "low or no glycemic index response"?

Natural:  Stevia and stevioside manufacturers in Japan, Central & South America and Asia, I have personally contacted, as a food, beverage and other product formulator of 31 years, emphasizing the use of only SAFE and natural ingredients in what I do for a living, and an ardent proponent of natural products, & also someone who asks hard question as to efficacy of claims learned: 

The stevia plant, an herb, is indeed NATURAL, but in all global commercial processing of concentration to a high intensity sweetener form, the leaves are macerated and placed in water (so far so good), then a 6 molar, or equivalent, sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid (toxic in the levels used, to all human consumption) is added to further chemically break down.  The extract (though evaporation methods) of the active saccharides from the macerated leaf and mixture is then dried.  Then an aromatic flavor (for masking aftertaste - many times artificial to keep price down) and/or chemical solvents, like kerosene or benzene (cancer causing) are employed to further concentrate the stevia powder.  The powder  then goes through a dechlorinization step & desalinization reducing/but not eliminating solvent(s).  Finally this not occurring in nature, powder, is CUT with either chemical mannitol, maltitol, xylitol, sorbitol, maltodextrin, corn refined dextrose, salts, or other chemical bulking excipients, to various sweetness concentrations, of the active stevia in the blend.  No, stevia is NOT natural in the form sold to the public, or in the original powder, described one can make at home with water and dry.

A safety/toxicity? See next post, ran out of space here

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
Russ, is there anything that you have found in the market that is less harmful? 

I'm trying to detox my body of some pretty nasty chemicals that a FORMER doctor just had me on. 

At first I was told to use Splenda....and well we all know about that.  Then I was introduced to Stevia, Xylitol and Agave Nectar.  All of which, at the place I was purchasing them from, claims that the brands they carry are not harmfully processed.  Are they all processed with harsh chemicals?  Is there anything out there that the Big Boys haven't messed up that we can eat safely?  Thanks

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
Safety/Toxicity?  It has been asked where is the evidence that stevia is not safe to consume (in the concentrated form described in manufacturing it, to a high intensity sweetness). 

As described in the process, by which the stevia manufacturers are using (not occurring in nature) with known cancer causing  unsafe chemicals, it is indeed reasonable & prudent to assume the finished product, falsely represented as "all natural", is indeed UNSAFE.  But at what dosage levels?

You will find on many proponent of stevia web sites, references to refuting some older toxicity aspersions directed at stevia (no doubt hack jobs backed by aspartame manufacturers).  But equally, I cannot find any published or vetted studies with dosage levels, in lab animals or humans, or at defined amounts equivalent to regular human ingestion,  that indeed there is no problem. 

I asked for these studies from the 4 major global manufacturers of stevia &received no data, at all, back. 

Until vetted &replicable data is conducted or published, I must assume there is no affirmation of safety of the products these proponents are LYING about being "natural", when in FACT, the manufacturing concentration process is not "natural".

Baking?  I have extensively tried to use stevia, at manufacturer recommended usage levels & even higher amounts, in commercial baking, heated beverages, confectionary, tabletting, bars, etc. 

There has not been one instance, & believe me I want to USE stevia for foreign clients asking for it, that it remains stable or maintains it sweetness over 210 degrees F for 6 minutes, as well as FADING badly in sweetness within a week of usage. 

Stevia may be OK for home baking in products for 2 or 3 days, but is does not work (confirmed with other formulators also) in commercial applications.

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Russ Bianchi
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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
As to the glycemic index, glycemic load, glycemic advantage, or other false and non empirical scales of measurement assuring stevia, or any product, being safe for consumption, or for that matter, not adversely harming blood glucose...this to is a RED HARRING.

The GI, GL, or GA are phony marketing terms, with no letigmacy in science, nutrition, medicine, dietary intake, caloric intake for healthy individual, hypoglycemics, obese, diabetic or other health compromised.

WHY?

The GI, GL and GA UTTERLY FAIL to measure what metabolic pathways is utilized, for ANY ingredient, or finished food or beverage, or pharmaceutical, or dietary supplement, over a specific period of time, at a specific dosage or caloric or non caloric intake, in any specific individual, with specific medical predispositions (good or bad).

Therefore to argue, in the case of stevia, there is no glycemic response because it is non caloric, or low in GI, GL, GA, also fails to tell you what good, or potential HARM, may or may not, be associated with the ingredient, or products it is ingested in.

For an additional example of how misrepresentative and deceitful the GI, GL or GA (no doubt someone is inventing yet another marketing bait and switch term as I write this for PROFIT motive at the health expense of those suckered in) take High Fructose Corn Syrup, or Hydrolyzed High Fructose Inulin (sometime mislabeled as unsafe and proven toxic 'agave'), or crystalline fructose - with all low scale numbers, great health harm, because they are not converted to blood glucose, but instead triglycerides and body fat.

Strychnine, arsenic, hemlock are low GI, GL, or GA, but I do not see anyone promoting them?  So to, cancer causing processed stevia powder is NOT proven safe...show me the studies it does not harm?

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KrazyK
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Posted On Mar 18, 2007
Russ,

Obviously you are a prolific author on this site and I can see that much of what you have said makes sense.  Sounds to me like that unless you are making your own Stevia, then give the commercial ones the flick.  They sound like a sugar version of margarine if you know what I mean.  They start with something natural but then the processing leaves you with an end product that is far from nature.  Makes me wonder whether Dr Mercola can vouch for the processes used by those who manufacture the stevia used in the Whey healthier protein powder?? 

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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
At least two readers have asked about "agave nectar or syrup"?

Agave is a criminally affirmed false and deceptive label, per United States Code of Federal Regulations, in writing, as of May, 2000, by FDA, for "70 to 90 dextrose equivalency chemically refined high fructose hydrolyzed inulin syrup".

Agave does not, as represented, come from blue agave.  In point of fact, when this FRAUD was uncovered, so call organic certified crops of blue agave did not exist (from a major national organic certifier) because there was not even enough blue agave for traditional tequila or mescal distilling at record high prices. let alone low cost syrups.

Agave is not, as represented, natural or GRAS.

Agave is at a minimum metabolized in the human Krebs cycle, through kilation, directly to triglycerides & adipose tissue, just like HFCS, and more harmful to long term health of diabetics, hypoglycemics, cardio compromised, obese, seniors, infants, children, and those seeking good health,more than refined sugar.

The main agave distributor in Los Angeles was criminally prosecuted, & the officers fled the country from prosecution, for FRAUD on this mislabeling issue, after the May, 2000 FDA letter.

Several dozen manufacturing brands in natural health food, mainstream beverage/food industries abandon use of this noncompliant (never submitted for safety approval) product from Mexico, after May, 2000.

There is HARD medical evidence that agave, in this concentrated form, causes human red blood cell membrane deterioration, internal hemorrhaging, & spontaneous abortion in pregnant women at low ingestion levels.  There are several statements from many State Poison Centers confirming these toxicity findings.

Agave was never used by ancient meso American as represented, they did not have chemical-enzymatic refining and concentrating  refineries for 70 to 90 DE hydrolyzed high fructose inulin.

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Russ Bianchi
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Catitude
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Posted On Mar 10, 2007
Holly Mackrel Russ!  Do you have ANY good news?  Is there any hope for those that have a sweet tooth or, like me, like a little sugar in my tea?

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Mawita
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Posted On May 31, 2007
It seems to me you are talking about non organic certified raw blue agave nectar. I wonder if this is also true for the Volcanic Nectar, who claim to make the best and real blue agave nectar. Here is a link to that claim http://www.blueagavenectar.com/
Is this correct? Could this be considered a safe brand?

You posted:
"...Agave does not, as represented, come from blue agave.  In point of fact, when this FRAUD was uncovered, so call organic certified crops of blue agave did not exist (from a major national organic certifier) because ..."

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